Chapter 4

Stella POV

Lucas snapped out of it as if waking from a dream and shoved me away violently. The force was so great that my back slammed hard against the solid wall.

A dull pain radiated from the old wounds on my spine. I groaned.

"Serena, let me explain..."

Lucas strode toward Serena, his tone full of panic. Completely different from the roughness he'd just shown me.

Serena covered her face, tears falling like broken pearls.

"Lucas, I know Stella is your wife and I'm just an outsider... I shouldn't be disturbing you two. I'll leave, I'll leave right now..."

She turned to run but "accidentally" crashed into a giant decorative champagne tower nearby.

The towering champagne tower collapsed with a crash, countless glass shards flying everywhere.

"Ah!"

Serena screamed and fell among the broken glass covering the floor. A gash immediately opened on her fair calf.

"Serena!"

Lucas's eyes nearly split with rage as he rushed over and carefully gathered Serena into his arms.

Serena leaned against him, trembling, but her gaze traveled over Lucas's shoulder to me.

"Stella, I know you hate me for taking your design draft, but why did you push me? My hands are already ruined. Do you want to destroy my legs too?"

I stood three meters away from the champagne tower.

I watched Serena's performance without even the energy to sneer.

"I didn't push her."

I stated the fact flatly.

"You still dare lie!"

Lucas whipped his head around, his eyes blood-red.

"Stella, you're absolutely vicious! If anything happens to Serena, you'll pay with your life!"

He stood up holding Serena. As he passed me, his eyes were as cold as if looking at a corpse.

"Get out of my way!"

He shoved me aside roughly.

I was already weak from the blood draw. His anger-filled shove made me lose my balance completely. I fell straight toward the pile of sharp glass shards on the floor.

The sound of a blade cutting through flesh was especially clear in the silent hallway.

My right hand pressed down hard on a large, razor-sharp piece of glass.

Blood gushed out instantly, staining the floor red.

Piercing pain shot from my palm, but I didn't make a sound.

I just bit my lip hard and watched Lucas carry Serena away, disappearing around the corner without looking back once.

He didn't even glance back at me.

Didn't see my right hand covered in blood.

I sat collapsed in a pool of blood, looking at my right hand pierced through by glass, and suddenly started laughing softly.

I laughed and laughed, and then tears fell.

This hand had once drawn countless designs that amazed the world.

This hand had once gripped Lucas tightly in the flames, refusing to let go.

This hand had once prepared countless meals for him with such hope.

Now it was ruined.

Good.

I didn't need it anymore anyway.

Hospital emergency room.

The doctor looked at my mangled right hand, his brow furrowed deeply.

"Miss Winters, the glass shard severed the main nerves and tendons in your right hand. Although surgery can stitch it up, your right hand will no longer be able to perform fine motor movements. Which means... you may never be able to hold a brush again."

I leaned against the hospital bed and nodded.

"It's fine. Just stitch it up."

I didn't need a brush anymore.

Four days until the "Deep Sea" agreement took effect.

The suturing surgery was done without anesthesia because I'm allergic to standard anesthetics.

I just watched as needle and thread passed through my flesh, enduring all the agony.

Did it hurt?

Compared to the pain in my heart, this was nothing.

After bandaging the wound, I refused hospitalization and walked out of the hospital alone.

The late-night streets were bitterly cold.

I dragged my exhausted, broken body back to that villa called "home."

I pushed open the door. The living room was pitch black.

Lucas hadn't come home.

I didn't turn on the lights. Using the moonlight, I went upstairs to the bedroom.

I pulled out a black suitcase and started packing.

Actually, I didn't have much to take. Everything in this villa was stained with Lucas's presence, suffocating me.

I opened a drawer. At the very back sat an old wooden box.

I opened it. Inside lay a crudely carved wooden ring.

That was from when I was fifteen, when Lucas carved it bit by bit with a pocketknife and placed it on my finger.

"Stella, when I grow up, I'll marry you and make you my one and only Mrs. Thornfield."

The young man's vow still echoed in my ears, but now it had become the most vicious curse.

I picked up the wooden ring with my undamaged left hand, walked to the balcony, and threw it into the trash bin below without hesitation.

Along with my ten years of love, humble as dust, I threw it all away.